For the first time in more than 30 years, NASA has no firm plans to send any new landers or rovers to Mars. Instead, the agency’s near-term focus at the red planet is on aerial drones, a pioneering mode of exploration that didn’t seem realistic until a few years ago.

The first real use of drones for science at Mars will come with the SkyFall mission, a fleet of three helicopters set for launch as soon as late 2028. SkyFall’s helicopters will ride to the red planet with NASA’s Space Reactor-1 “Freedom” mission, which has the primary objective of demonstrating nuclear electric propulsion in deep space.

The launch schedule is aggressive for SR-1 Freedom and SkyFall, projects that didn’t even exist in NASA’s portfolio six months ago. NASA’s plan for the SR-1 Freedom mission, estimated to cost $2.1 billion, calls for repurposing the core module of the canceled Gateway lunar space station into a testbed for nuclear electric propulsion. SkyFall will build on NASA’s success with the Ingenuity helicopter, an experimental vehicle that became the first rotorcraft to fly on another world in 2021.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is partnering with AeroVironment, a developer of high-altitude drones, to design and build the three SkyFall helicopters, plus one spare. The same team was behind the Ingenuity helicopter that landed on Mars with NASA’s Perseverance rover five years ago.

Development underway

AeroVironment announced last week that it received a contract from JPL to “co-design and co-manufacture” the three SkyFall helicopters. Ingenuity flew 72 times before a crash landing in early 2024, far exceeding the mission’s original plan of five test flights. Engineers are building on the Ingenuity design for the SkyFall helicopters. The new vehicles will be somewhat larger than Ingenuity—about 2.5 kilograms (5.5 pounds) instead of 1.8 kilograms (4 pounds)—with upgraded rotors to handle a heavier payload.

SkyFall will show that “Mars helicopters can be built as a repeatable product line, not a one‑off delivery,” said Jeff Rodrian, head of AeroVironment’s MacCready Works division, the company’s advanced research and development organization.

AeroVironment is responsible for the helicopters’ rotor systems, airframes, structures, avionics integration, and accommodation for science payloads, the company said in a press release. JPL will develop the power system, electronics, algorithms, and software, along with a ground-penetrating radar to search for shallow subsurface ice below the Martian surface. Each helicopter will also carry a suite of cameras and sensors to gather data on the Martian atmosphere.

This is an upgrade over Ingenuity, which carried two cameras but lacked any sophisticated scientific instruments. Ingenuity’s range was limited by a requirement to communicate through a base station on the Perseverance rover, while SkyFall will be capable of transmitting and receiving data through communications relay orbiters flying overhead.